


If you care to know

by fullarmorandahotfudgesundae



Series: Hot Time in the Town of Berlin [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), F/M, M/M, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-16 05:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15429867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullarmorandahotfudgesundae/pseuds/fullarmorandahotfudgesundae
Summary: Timestamp toWhen the Brooklyn Boys Begin, from Tony's POV.In the aftermath of the Battle of New York, Tony really just wants to relax with Pepper and his new buddy, Bruce.  Given that this is his life, those plans are interrupted by a Soviet-era myth and an unconscious Captain America.Sigh.His life was so hard sometimes.





	If you care to know

He had been planning on a pleasant evening of Pepper, repairing/tinkering/improving the suit, more Pepper, banter with his new science buddy Banner, and heading to bed with Pepper to sleep for a week. He was a hero, damn it! He had freaking almost _died_ to save a whole bunch of people so he deserved an evening doing exactly what he wanted. 

Not that he couldn’t do that most evenings, but there was an added poignancy with the after-heroics. 

He did end up with parts of that, but there was no part of the agenda that scheduled a drop-in with an infamous Soviet assassin/WWII hero come to life and a comatose Captain America. 

Sigh. 

His life was so hard sometimes. 

They had been hanging out in the lab in the tower that evening, the living room and most of the more civilized, according to Pepper, areas out of commission from the fight against Loki a day ago. They had somehow congregated there throughout the late afternoon, after pretty much spending the daylight hours unconscious, at least on Tony and Bruce’s part. Pepper had refused to leave Tony’s side when he returned from seeing off Thor and his asshole sibling in the bondage gear. 

Now, however, Pepper was organizing repairs and rallying the charitable forces of New York to her heart’s content. Bruce was, well, Tony wasn’t actually sure what Bruce was doing, but his newly adopted (adopted, not kidnapped, thank you very much, Pep) scientist with a heart of gold and an alter ego of green appeared to be enjoying the quiet company. Tony himself was happily buried up to his elbows in the suit’s servos and was plotting new additions for the next time an alien invasion occurred, because they may as well face it, it was New York. 

It was gonna happen. 

His idyllic evening was seemingly not to be, as JARVIS’ dulcet tones rang out. “You wished to be informed if any of the Avengers entered the building, sir. Captain Rogers’ bio-signature has just registered in the ground floor foyer, however...” 

Tony interrupted, “Fine, great, send the Capscicle on up.” Not his choice of teammates, but given the aforementioned likelihood of future incursions, he should probably at least get on decent working terms. 

And yes, he was mature enough to realize most of his issues with Cap came straight from his eternal and always fun well of daddy issues. Acknowledging that didn’t mean he had to concede gracefully though. 

“As I was saying, sir,” and just how did his AI sound ever more disapproving, “the Captain’s vitals indicate he has been unconscious since before entering the building. His companion’s readings indicate an unknown individual.” 

“On screen.” Tony was instantly on edge. An unknown with an unconscious Captain America? Couldn’t he just have one evening in peace? Was that really too much to ask? 

He registered Pepper moving from her perch on the far work table and press in beside him as he stood in front of the main display. Bruce also emerged from whatever fugue state he was in and was sending an intensely focused look at the image resolving in front of them. 

“JARVIS, run facial recog on Cap’s buddy. Full works, all the databases.”

The man, for it was male, had obviously carried Rogers in and was now kneeling beside his decidedly not-moving body. And whoa, was that a metal hand? Well, that should make identification easier. 

“Tony, what’s going on? Is that Captain America?” Pepper was trembling slightly at his side. He pulled her into his side, brushing a kiss on the top of her head as she ducked it under his chin. She still wasn’t recovered from watching him fly a nuke into space. They seriously needed a vacation after this, one where he’d lock up all connections to the outside world.

Well, except JARVIS. JARVIS went where Tony went after all. 

“Bruce? Opinion on our intruder?” He wasn’t ignoring Pepper, really; he just knew her babble was an indication of nerves, not serious questions. 

Bruce took a moment to consider the bio readings on a side screen. Tony respected that he always seemed to think first, then speak, even if the practice was directly opposite to his own. “If these readings are correct, then Steve is in serious need of medical care. I’m not sure...We need to get him up here and enact some palliative care while we figure out what’s causing these anomalous readings.” 

JARVIS returned the results before Tony could answer that. “Sir, the databases I have accessed returned two results, however, one is significantly more unlikely and the other is significantly more immediate.” 

What the hell did that mean? “Shoot with the immediate.” 

Images flashed around the footage from downstairs, where their mystery man was now holding Cap’s face. It took even Tony an extra moment to comprehend the severe fucking up of his night before he burst into action. Pepper got it an instant later, indicated by her gasp. 

“Shit! How the hell...okay, no, first things first, JARVIS enact security protocol RQPrime. Bruce, do _not_ Hulk out on me here, big guy, not until absolutely necessary. This guy could probably take the Other Guy down.”

He had JARVIS set the highest level security the system had, designed for all-out invasion, and hoped it would be enough for this foe. Tony met Bruce’s eyes and got an acknowledgement even as he was already turning to his girlfriend, tightening his arm around her. 

“Pepper, I need you to do exactly what I tell you from here on out, okay. If I say run, you run to the secure room and call Fury.” She nodded shakily and he kissed her hard before turning back to the still-live footage. The not-so mysterious man’s mouth was moving, but apparently Tony was being slow since he hadn’t ordered the sound on. He didn’t need it as he saw the man shake Cap. 

“JARVIS, mikes and speakers on. Back away from Captain America and keep your hands in front of you,” he ordered. Somewhat pleasing was the way the threat was rattled enough to jump, but unfortunately that put a highly dangerous weapon right over Cap’s body, while he did a pro job taking the sightlines. 

“’Fraid I’m not going to do that. Wanna tell me who I’m talkin’ to?” 

Tony blinked.

Okay, that was not the accent he had been expecting.

Bruce swayed slightly forward, a big enough reaction that he may as well shouted that something was off. 

“You’re in my tower and asking me who I am? It’s been a long couple of days, and I’ve faced down bigger threats than a Cold War assassin, so you might just want to do what I say and step away from the Captain.” 

He didn’t really expect the Winter Soldier to do what he asked, but at least it gave the home team a moment to reconnoiter. Tony tapped the mike mute button on the screen.

“Okay, is it just me or is this guy not acting like a proponent of the glorious Motherland in the depths of the depraved capitalist world? And why does he sound like the guy down at the deli?” 

“No, you’re right, there’s something off here. I don’t...” Bruce trailed off. 

Giving him a moment to collect his thoughts (hey, personal growth!), Tony turned to Pepper who was even more pale than usual as she read through the details JARVIS had dug up on the metal armed (oo, full cybernetic arm...that could be fun to get his hands on) Soviet assassin code named Winter Soldier. It took a moment, but she pulled her eyes away from the macabre details laid out in black and white (and thank Faraday, JARVIS had redacted the images undoubtedly attached to some of those reports). They had a moment to do that neat little mind-meld trick that had marked their working relationship from the start. She nodded slightly, reassuring him that she was okay, even if the whole thing scared her to death. 

His annoyingly-persistent-in-being-a-mystery uninvited guest spoke up again. “Listen, Stark, I don’t care what you know or who you think I am, but Steve needs a doc pretty bad and he wanted to come here, so cutting the BS short would be appreciated.” 

Tony cued the microphone up and let his mouth run to buy them a little more time. Besides, the guy hadn’t made a move on them or Cap, yet, and he actually sounded concerned. Not that he couldn’t be playing them, but instinct said maybe not. 

“Right, I’m supposed to believe that, what’s your code name, oh yeah. I’m supposed to believe that the Winter Soldier, top of every wanted list of every agency I can access, is just here to play Good Samaritan to Captain America? Pull the other one, pal.” 

Bruce’s head popped up and he signalled for a cut-off. Once safely private, he blurted, “JARVIS, you mentioned an unlikely match on the recognition software. Can you pull it up?”

Without waiting for a reply, he turned to Tony, “I don’t think this is cut and dried, Tony. I’m pretty sure this guy is supposed to be dead, but then, I’m not really sure about anything like that anymore. But this guy is ringing a few distant bells, and...yes, look.” He pointed at the screen now showing...Oh no way. 

“No fucking way,” Tony breathed. Of course, his current pain in the ass chose that moment to chime in, providing perfectly enviable dramatic timing. 

“Okay, so you can access some top-security files. Then look up James Buchanan Barnes, Sergeant, US Army, 32557883.” 

Tony put his back to the display showing just that information and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, is he playing us? Or is this shit for real?” 

Pepper was doing what she did best and put the facts together, although he had to wince at her lack of interest in history. Then again, not everyone was force-fed the Howling Commandos greatest hits every damn day of their childhood. “All right, so this Sergeant Barnes was part of the Captain’s unit in the war? But he was supposedly KIA, and then this Soviet assassin, who apparently matches our intruder according to JARVIS, appeared a few years later. And yet we’re covering 50-60 years and he looks barely older than mid-twenties. How does this make sense?” 

“Miss Potts, my analysis of the intruder included his highly unusual prosthetic attachment, which is the only descriptor present on the Winter Soldier files, hence why my search settings provided a match. His physical characteristics, however, provided a 99.8% match with Sergeant Barnes in my facial recognition software, with an acceptable deviation to account for age and injury,” JARVIS weighed in. 

“So, what do we do? The Barnes Dad knew was loyal 150% to Cap; he wouldn’t have willingly...” Tony trailed off, a really horrific thought occurring to him. “JARVIS, call in Romanov and Barton. Tell them the situation and that their _discreet_ and immediate arrival would be beyond appreciated.”

After the whole Phase II reveal, he didn’t trust Fury further than he could throw him. _Sans_ suit anyway. Coulson was...would have been the only one he could trust. 

“Tony, what...” 

He hated to cut Pepper off, but time was pressing. “Romanov underwent severe mental conditioning at the hands of the Russians. If Barnes was captured after his supposed death...” 

So he had looked up certain personnel files when his little worm trawled through the helicarrier’s systems. It was exceedingly useful at the present moment, so he was totally justified.

He’d just make sure to be in the suit when Romanov found out. 

Bruce, who hadn’t stopped monitoring Cap’s vitals, let out a really not-good sound. “Tony, Steve’s not breathing!” 

He whirled back around to the displays in time to see Barnes, if that’s who he was but hey, that was better than the alternative, panicking but holding it together.

Barnes (Yep, going with Barnes. JARVIS was never wrong and there were too many connections. They’d worry about his mental state for the next crisis. Hopefully backed up by two SHIELD assassins.) muttered down at the still not breathing American icon, either not aware of or not caring about his audience. 

“Jesus, Rogers, you make me do mouth to mouth before you kiss me hello and we’re gonna have words. Words, ya hear? Like when you broke that cabinet and let me take the rap with Sister Mary Elizabeth. Damn, that woman knew how to lay a guilt trip. And all you had to do was blink those baby blues at her and act like butter wouldn’t melt.” He let out what sounded suspiciously like a muffled sob. “Damn it, Stevie, you hang in there!” 

Okay, that was more than he wanted to know about Cap’s private life.

For the moment.

And apparently the two had known each other far more than Dad’s stories had indicated. But that would explain the extreme loyalty he’d always (secretly, really really secretly) envied in those stories. He turned the mike back on, once Cap’s (maybe he should think of him as Steve at this point? Not that he’d been invited to be familiar, but the guy was taking up space in his tower) breathing stabilized. He hesitated, but decided to give the guy a break (especially if he was a deadly assassin...or even just a freakishly good sniper) and pretend they hadn’t caught that emotional moment. 

“Are you seriously trying to tell me that Sergeant Bucky Barnes, sidekick to Captain America, is somehow alive and kicking in the form of an infamous cybernetic Soviet assassin?” 

Tony got a kick out of the sour look on Barnes’ face at his poking. Hey, he was only human. 

“Look, Stark, I’m sure you’ve got a whole bunch of biometric scanners and analysis stuff in this place, so you can verify I’m telling the truth. But Steve doesn’t have a lot of time and he needs me, so please, just get him some help. I’ll swear on anything you want that I’m not going to go crazy and kill everything in sight; I’ll even let you disable my arm, just please, I am begging you to not let Steve die.” 

Tony paused, actually feeling a wash of, what was that, shame, at making the guy beg. Pepper and Bruce’s twin disapproving looks didn’t help.

He cleared his throat and said, “Second elevator from the left. I’ll bring you up.”


End file.
